Author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka has faced more than his share of rejection.

Krosoczka said he has known since he was very little that he wanted to make his living with words and pictures. But, as he told Jaffrey-Rindge students during a school visit last week, it was not always an easy road.

Krosoczka is best known for his “Lunch Lady” graphic novel series, his “Jedi Academy” graphic novel series and his personal memoir, “Hey, Kiddo.” but he said that his love of art and words started early. With more than 40 children’s and middle-grade books under his belt, Krosoczka shared some of his life story, the ins and outs of making picture books and graphic novels and his struggles getting his career off the ground.

“I’m a professional artist, but I’ve been an artist my entire life, I don't remember a time I did not draw,” said Krosoczka, who now publishes both picture books and graphic novels, including two memoirs about his own life. One of his earliest drawings, which he shared with students, was a typical early school assignment to draw his family. Krosoczka’s family consisted of himself and his grandmother and grandfather, who raised him due to his mother’s struggles with drug addiction.

“There were some visits with my mother growing up, nothing that was consistent, and nothing I could really depend on. What I could depend on was the artwork my mother would send me,” Krosoczka said.

Krosoczka said that growing up, his mother spent several stints in either jail or rehabilitation centers, and while there, would send him letters and hand-drawn cards featuring some of his favorite comic characters, such as the “Peanuts” gang and Garfield.

Krosoczka said from an early age, he emulated his mother by drawing his favorite characters from comic strips, Marvel and DC, Disney and his own original characters. He drew his own comic on the weekend, along with other creative endeavors – stop-motion animations, skits and small bits of hand-drawn animation. He illustrated a comic for his school newspaper, and settled on wanting to pursue illustration after high school.

This was the time of his first rejection, Krosoczka recalled. His dream school was Rhode Island School of Design, and he didn’t get in.

“And I was devastated,” Krosoczka recalled. He went to a different art school, and took his preliminary drawing classes. On his winter break, he ran into his high school English teacher, who encouraged him to reapply. He did, and this time, got in. As part of one of his courses, he created a children’s picture book about a giant slug that wanted to make friends with a reluctant young boy.

Krosoczka described taking his book and sending it out to publishers, and getting rejected, not only by the first, but the second, third and 11th. He began work on another book, about a boy with a bad haircut, and tried to get that book published – also unsuccessfully. And then a third, about a boy with monkey pajamas who doesn’t want to go to bed. Again, there was no interest.

Krosoczka said after two years of trying to be published, he changed his strategy, creating a website advertising himself as an illustrator, hoping that he might get his foot in the door by illustrating someone else’s book. For months, he sent postcards of his illustrations to publishers, in batches of 80, he finally got a single call back, from a publisher at Random House who was interested in meeting. The publisher asked Krosoczka  if he had ever written anything, and liked his third book, so he agreed to publish it.

“Dream accomplished,” Krosoczka said. “It was what I wanted to do.”

Krosoczka later published two memoirs – one about growing up raised by his grandparents and his refuge in art, named “Hey, Kiddo” after a phase often included in his mother’s letters to him from rehabilitation and prison, and the other about his time working at a camp for children with serious illnesses. He said he was particularly hesitant writing about his childhood and relationship with his grandparents and mother. What convinced him was a last-minute invitation to give a TED Talk, where he discussed his childhood publicly for the first time.

Krosoczka said after giving that talk, he began to meet children during school visits who would talk to him about their own, sometimes similar circumstances.

“It takes a lot of courage to write about your life; it takes a lot of courage to draw your life. These aren’t characters; these are real people,” Krosoczka said.

His vulnerability was honored, though, by “Hey, Kiddo,” becoming the most-acclaimed book of his career.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.